The Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church of Tarboro in Edgecomb County, N.C., is full of history. The church is located on the grounds of the original Tarboro town cemetery founded in 1790, where it is believed that many veterans from the Revolutionary War and soldiers from the Civil War are buried. The original church, Calvary Episcopal, was started in 1859 and consecrated in 1868.
It is this long and storied history that church leaders took into consideration when making the decision to reroof the classroom building. Since the sanctuary, which was built in 1908, had a metal roof on it, they decided to reroof the classroom building with metal.
The classroom building was built with a flat roof hidden by exterior parapet walls, allowing leaves to build up over time and impair roof drainage. Once church leaders decided to install a new metal roof over the existing one, they contacted Richard Andrews of DKWA Architects in Rocky Mount, N.C. The contractor was Jim McClure of McClure Estimating and Construction, Williamston, N.C.
McClure engineered an 8,700-square-foot (808-m2), light-gauge framing system to create a new 6:12 roof slope for the classroom. Houston-based MBCI 24-gauge SuperLok standing-seam system in charcoal gray was used for the metal roof. MBCI Artisan L12 panels in Snow White were installed at the gable walls. To compliment the existing cut stone cornices on the sanctuary, soffited overhangs were created with custom-broke 24-gauge Snow White metal sill trim installed at the existing wall line. An Ogee style gutter was chosen to finish the cornice appearance.
